WALL-E (+Eve) Costume

Hello! Last February, my student accommodation had a random couples costume competition to win £50 voucher. Of course I couldn't let this down but since I am a single student, I managed to convince my flatmate to join me and we had recently watched WALL-E. I managed to make my costume (as well as sorting out EVEs) in a week! And we won!!! Choosing an Asda Voucher since were broke students... I haven't got many photos of the progress and I mostly did it at night but please enjoy!

Supplies

Sooo I had many ideas of how to go about this costume.

I made a moodboard of others costumes, ideas for prop wise for the photos and decided what was easier and cheaper was to use the cardboard box method. (These other ideas included a Yellow Square IKEA bag, dungarees or a cropped brown puffer jacket.)

You will need some space to get crafty - and maybe a mirror or a friend!

Scissors!
A scalpel or box cutter
Potentially a ruler
Potentially Clear Tape
Pencil or Pen
A big cardboard box (that will fit the top half of your body or however much you want covered)
A (Dominoes) Pizza Box = if you want to show off that you can open up!
Yellow (Duct) Tape (or whatever yellow tape you can find) = to cover the box

Alternatively, I was using yellow napkins that Asda was selling, which i was attempting decoupaging the box but the tape was so much quicker to do. You can also (acrylic) paint it if thats easier! I just wanted to go for the "Student-made" look!

(Potentially) More (Duct) Tape Colours: - or just use paint

Silver = top chunk border of his front
Black = for the WALLE title and his little charger screen on his chest area
Brown Parcel Tape = for the rusty lines on his front
White = I used medical tape because it was all I had but was good for the thinness for the E of the WALLE title

Box Fit

Flatpack the box
Cut off the bottom flaps of the box

This is for your leg room and now its much easier to put the box costume on

Measure it to yourself by getting in it
Slightly close the top flaps around your neck to review the potential space. This will also help you see how high you want it on your body (helpful for the arms).
Cut off the flap thats behind your neck

Arms + Box

Using a mirror or a friend to help view the sides, pencil a circle for where your arms will fit through. You can use a ruler to help.
Attempt cutting the circles with the scalpel/box cutter
Try on the box, attempting fitting your arms through, and keep drawing and cutting your arm holes to fit comfortably.

Pizza Box + Box

Measure the pizza box against the cardboard box
With a pencil, mark around the box for where you will be cutting
With your scissors, cut the shape of the p.box out of the front of your big box
Wedge in your p.box, making sure the lid is flat to the box
Take the parcel tape, attach the boxes together
Make sure to not cover the hole that the lid flat will fit into to stay shut

I wish the p.box was a little thicker so I could fit the shoe inside for that added surprise.

Makin It Yellow

This is where I tried decoupaging it with the napkins, but I decided to stop and tape it up instead

Measure each strip of yellow tape to the sides of the box, and work downwards.
Don't forget the pizza box lid!
DON'T cover the top flaps yet!

You can also paint it if thats what you prefer

Also fill in the inner lid by tape or paint

Silver Lining & Rust Lines

Now measure and cut the silver tape to the front top, but don't carry on taping on the other sides.

I wanted the silver strip to be thick so did it to where the closed pizza box started. When the lid is open, this would leave a slight gap too which was a nice touch

Where your arm holes are, do 1 or 2 tape strips thick across, obviously not covering the holes
Cut 2 long stripes of brown tape, cutting these in half. You only need to use 3 of these to put on the front lid

Charger Screen

Now this is the fiddly part

You can attempt painting or drawing this on instead on the silver tape or a black card maybe but I decided to use purely tape...

I cut 2 bits of tape, placing them on the slight middle side
I added small strips to make a hollow square next to the tape square
I then cut more thinner strips to make it look like writing to place in the hollow square
I then did the same out of yellow tape to put on the black tape square
It was a little difficult to do a sun, so a circle sufficed!

Brand Label

Pencil the WALL-E name onto the bottom right of the lid
Starting with the end of the name, I cut thin strips of white medical tape to make an E, sticking it to a red circle.
I covered this with thick celotape to stick it to the box
Cut a bunch of black tape strips thinly
Go backwards and make up the dot, L x2, A & W

Top Flaps

Now to complete this, you might need a friend to help. Mine came out messy because I was too stubborn to ask for a hand...

Try on the box
Place the side flaps onto your shoulders first and then the front flap down over the top
Get the yellow tape and cover the top flaps, overlapping and sticking the flaps together

This acts like braces and you won't have to hold the box.

Taa Daa! You've completed crafting the Costume!

Final Touches

Now its time for the rest of your outfit!

What are you wearing underneath?

I went with:

Cargo trousers for that "Building Work" look
Brown/orange flannel shirt
Black and white striped long-sleeve t-shirt to match the Stripes on Wall-es arms
Goggles

Alternatively, glasses, facepaint or even attempt making cardboard eyes by bending toilet rolls to shape and hooping them with string for a mask effect!